My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 136 Favor
Although Zhou Jiye was happy to have escaped Cheng Jiandong's control in a daze, he was also extremely puzzled by the matter, because he still did not know why Uncle Lin would go to such great lengths to help him.

According to what Uncle Lin said on the phone, one of his uncles was looking for him. However, Zhou Jiye thought carefully and realized that he didn't know anyone in Hong Kong, let alone who the uncle Uncle Lin mentioned was.

Besides, the original owner of this body was just a young man from a rural area in Northwest China. The Zhou family had been farmers for generations, toiling in the fields, and had absolutely no connection with Hong Kong, thousands of miles away. Who exactly was the uncle that Uncle Lin mentioned? And why was he looking for him? Zhou Jiye couldn't figure it out at all.

I couldn't help but ask Uncle Lin, but he just smiled and didn't answer, only saying that I would know when we got there.

Helpless, Zhou Jiye could only sit patiently in the car and wait for the mystery to be solved. The car left the bustling city center and headed west. After passing the Middle Ring Road, the car turned south. The road ahead began to rise, and the buildings along the roadside gradually decreased. Large areas of greenery and the mountaintop in the distance could be vaguely seen.

The environment here is quite nice, and there are many luxury cars driving back and forth along the way. Although Zhou Jiye didn't know where this place was, he could basically guess that this must be a wealthy area in Hong Kong when he saw the villas hidden in the greenery.

Continuing on, after driving up the mountain for a while, the car turned right onto a small road. There was a sign at the intersection that read "Private Road" and a string of English words. After driving a few hundred meters further, they came to a large house with the front door closed. Ah Kun parked his car in front of the door and honked the horn. Soon, someone inside noticed the car outside and came out from the side door. This person clearly knew Ah Kun, who was driving, and Uncle Lin in the car.

"Uncle Dong, I've already made an appointment with my uncle," Uncle Lin said politely, leaning out of the car.

Uncle Dong responded and opened the gate, through which Uncle Lin's car drove in. Inside, there was still a narrow path. The car drove forward for a while and then stopped in a parking space on the side. At this point, Uncle Lin got out of the car, leaving Ah Kun in it. He straightened his suit jacket, which couldn't hide his belly, and called out to Zhou Jiye, who didn't know what was going on, and told him to come with him.

"Uncle Lin!" After walking for a while, they met a young man who went up to greet Uncle Lin.

Uncle Lin was very polite to the young man and asked if his uncle was there. The young man pointed to the garden behind the house and said that his uncle was practicing boxing. Then his gaze fell on Zhou Jiye, who was with Uncle Lin.

"Is this Zhou Jiye, young man?"

"it's him."

"Come with me," the young man said casually, leading them toward the garden.

Go around the building in front, and you'll find the garden at the back. This garden is quite large; besides the lawn, there's also a swimming pool. Not far from the swimming pool, an old man is slowly practicing Tai Chi.

The old man was wearing a collared short-sleeved shirt and trousers. He looked to be in his sixties, but he was in good shape. Compared to the obese Uncle Lin, the old man was not short but rather thin. He looked very energetic, with his gray hair neatly combed. He was concentrating on practicing his boxing.

Upon approaching, the young man stopped and led Uncle Lin and Zhou Jiye to wait quietly to the side. Zhou Jiye secretly sized up the old man. He was certain he had never seen this person before, but considering that Uncle Lin had brought him here, and his conversation with the young man earlier, it seemed that this old man must be the uncle Uncle Lin had mentioned.

After waiting for a while, the old man finally finished his stance and completed the set of punches.

At this moment, the young man quickly stepped forward, picked up a towel that had been prepared in advance, and handed it to the old man. The old man took it and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead. The young man whispered a few words to the old man, and the old man turned around and looked at Uncle Lin and Zhou Jiye. He said something, and the young man nodded and walked towards them.

"Uncle Lin, please go back first. My uncle said he appreciates this and will call me if you need any help in the future."

Uncle Lin was overjoyed to hear this, his chubby face beaming with smiles. Although his uncle hadn't asked him to stay and talk, with this young man's promise, he felt he had achieved his purpose for coming today.

Then, Uncle Lin thanked the young man, smiled at Zhou Jiye, and turned to walk towards the direction where he had parked his car.

"Young Master Zhou, please come with me, your uncle wants to see you." After Uncle Lin left, the young man looked at Zhou Jiye and said with a smile.

Zhou Jiye followed the young man nervously toward his uncle. Upon reaching his uncle, the young man said, "This is Zhou Jiye, young man Zhou."

"Uncle, hello..." Zhou Jiye didn't know how to address the old man, so he could only bow and greet him as Uncle Lin had told him.

"You're Zhou Jiye?" The old man's gaze fell on Zhou Jiye, sizing him up. "Little corpse, you're quite big. I heard you came from Shanghai? Smuggled yourself here?"

In the next sentence, the uncle actually spoke in the Shanghai dialect, and the accent was somewhat old-fashioned, sounding very similar to Xie Xiangrong's.

“Uncle…” Zhou Jiye began, but the old man waved his hand and said, “You don’t need to call me uncle, it’s inappropriate, change it to something else.”

"Oh... Uncle?" Zhou Jiye suddenly realized and quickly changed his mind. "Hehe, Uncle? Hello, Uncle! I haven't heard that title in a long time, I like it." The old man raised his eyebrows and smiled, and the young man beside him also laughed.

"Come, sit down and let's talk." The old man pointed to a chair next to him and said to Zhou Jiye, then said to the young man, "Go and make a pot of tea, I want to chat with him."

"Yes!" the young man replied and left. After the young man left, the old man asked Zhou Jiye again, "Little Floating Corpse, you haven't answered my question yet."

"Uncle, I am Zhou Jiye. I did come from Shanghai, but I didn't smuggle myself. I crossed the sea by accident." Zhou Jiye smiled wryly and told me how he went from Shanghai to Lingnan to buy goods, how he encountered anti-smuggling officers when picking up the goods in Macun, how he accidentally followed Dafei from Lingnan to Hong Kong in a panic, how he went ashore in Sai Kung and went to the city, but he happened to run into the police checking ID cards. Because he didn't have an ID card, he panicked and ran away. He accidentally ran into Cheng Jiandong and his gang who were robbing a gold shop. He then told them all the stories of how he was robbed by Cheng Jiandong.

After finishing his explanation, Zhou Jiye spread his hands helplessly and said, "That's how it is. Cheng Jiandong and his gang are in the big tea and food business. Luckily, I helped him back in Fengdong, so they didn't harm me. But since we ran into each other, he won't let me go and forced me to join them. I've been following him around these past few days and haven't been able to leave until recently when he started to trust me a little, and I finally had some freedom. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known that Uncle Tuolin was looking for me."

"By the way, Uncle, I'd like to ask you something, could you...?"

Seeing Zhou Jiye's hesitant expression, the old man smiled and asked, "Are you wondering why I'm looking for you?"

"Yes, yes! Uncle, we didn't know each other before, right? Why did you go to so much trouble to find me, and even had Uncle Lin get me out of Cheng Jiandong's place?"

This was something Zhou Jiye had always been puzzled by. The person living in such a place was definitely not an ordinary person, and the fact that Uncle Lin addressed him as "Uncle" made his status even more extraordinary. Why would such a big shot go to such lengths to find someone as insignificant as himself? He, Zhou Jiye, was just an ordinary person, with no connections or background, from a farming family—it was simply not worth it!
At this moment, the young man brought over the tea. The old man asked the young man to make the tea. After making two cups of tea, he picked up a cup himself and gestured for Zhou Jiye to drink it. Then he took a sip by himself.

"There aren't many truly good teas in Hong Kong, and people here prefer to drink Gongfu tea, so the taste is a bit different from that in the north. Green tea from Jiangnan, especially top-quality Longjing, is not easy to come by. This tea was a gift from a friend not long ago. It wouldn't be unusual in Shanghai, but it's a rare find in Hong Kong. Come on! Have a taste."

Zhou Jiye responded, picked up the tea and took a sip. The tea was very fragrant, but Zhou Jiye didn't know much about tea; he just thought it was indeed delicious.

"Excellent tea!" Zhou Jiye praised, but the old man suddenly asked, "What makes it so good?"

Zhou Jiye was a little embarrassed by the question. He thought for a moment and said, "It smells good! It smells very good. To be honest, Uncle, I don't know much about tea, but this tea smells very good and tastes very pleasant."

The old man chuckled: "That's true. When it comes to tea, it's all about the aroma and the feeling of comfort. For example, when I was young, I didn't know anything about good tea. But as I've lived longer and drunk more tea, I've gradually come to appreciate the differences. What's the difference between good tea and ordinary tea? It's nothing more than the aroma and the taste; everything else is the same."

"Since you like it, have a few more cups," the old man said with a smile. The young man refilled Zhou Jiye's teacup. Zhou Jiye thanked him but didn't take the cup. Instead, he waited expectantly for the old man's reply.

The old man slowly finished his tea, put down the teacup, glanced at Zhou Jiye, and smiled, "What's wrong? Can't you stand it anymore?"

“A little.” Zhou Jiye did not deny it and nodded, “Uncle, please tell me why, otherwise I’m always feeling uneasy.”

"Hahaha!" Upon hearing this, the old man couldn't help but burst into laughter, shaking his head as he laughed.

"You little floating corpse, you're quite interesting. Alright, I won't beat around the bush with you anymore. To be honest, we don't know each other. There's a reason why I had someone look for you."

Zhou Jiye listened intently, a thought stirring within him. It seemed his judgment was correct; this old man indeed had no connection to him. But why had he gone to such great lengths to find him?

“I owe someone a favor, and they asked me to do it.” The old man sighed softly, tapping his left fingers lightly on the armrest, his gaze somewhat unfocused. “This favor is thirty years old. I never thought I would be able to repay it in this lifetime, but I never thought I would have the chance to do so.”

"To tell you the truth, someone from Shanghai contacted me, told me about your situation, and asked me to help find you. I thought I could find you soon, but so many things happened after you came to Hong Kong, and I only found out about your whereabouts a few days ago."

“Your uncle stopped getting involved in the underworld many years ago, but I still have some influence there. Besides, your matter isn't too big or too small, so I had Ah Lin step in and get you out of this mess, bringing you here. Now you understand?”

Hearing this, Zhou Jiye was even more confused. According to the old man, someone in Shanghai had asked him to find his whereabouts, and the old man owed someone a favor, which was why he was trying to get him out of trouble. But who in Shanghai had such abilities?

Lin Ying? That's impossible! Lao Wen and Xu Guoqing? That shouldn't be possible either! Lao Wen used to be a fishmonger selling eels at the market. As for Xu Guoqing, he did have some influence in Shanghai, but that was limited to Shanghai. Let alone Hong Kong, even in Lingnan, he only knew one person, A-Chang. If they had connections like the old man, would they have bothered to risk going to Macun to buy their goods?

So who exactly is it? Zhou Jiye couldn't figure it out. Suddenly, a figure appeared in Zhou Jiye's mind. Could it be...?
(End of this chapter)